1. Gather consumers with a wide net
Think broadly when first establishing a community. Throw your net wide, and gather as many curious minds as you can. Often, brand leaders are quick to assume they know the exact individuals who will gravitate toward their products. However, this limited mindset can turn off consumers who don’t meet your calculated demographics and can ultimately lose brand exposure and potential profits. Instead, open the door to every person who enters in order to get feedback—and enthusiasm—rooted in diversity.
Examine how similar brands reach consumers, or even how they fall short. Learn from other brands’ failures to ensure you take marketing steps and invest in tools that set you up for success. In addition, remember that the intrigue of joining a brand’s community begins far before a purchase, through consumer curiosity, testimonials, and peer reviews. Use this proactive approach to your advantage, and encourage your consumers to share with others why they have embraced your brand.
2. Engage in trust-building conversations
In the past, with limited communication channels, brands relied on their products to do most of the talking. Now that consumers are accustomed to unfettered access and two-way communication, brands need to engage with their new users from the start and keep communication lines open.
After all, talking with your audience builds trust and supports a successful community and repeated business. According to Salesforce, 64 percent of today’s consumers expect real-time interactions when working with brands online.
The top mistake of staying in touch with consumers is a brands’ lack of effective listening. It doesn’t do a brand any favors to just shout information at its consumers and turn away once they speak up. Don’t assume that everything you communicate through your brand will immediately make sense to your audience. Provide a platform—whether social media channels, a well-monitored email address, or a carefully crafted onboarding series—where consumers can honestly voice their ideas, concerns, and complaints. Reply to them quickly, and take all the feedback to heart. When consumers feel heard, they’ll help point you to a successful future.
3. Maximize consumer loyalty
Show your audience that the solutions to their needs and wants already exist within the brand’s community, and they will continue to endure there for the foreseeable future. One step is to make it easy for consumers to renew or repurchase your brand’s product. Encourage customers to add on or upgrade to higher tier for extra benefits. In addition, reward referrals and thank consumers—authentically and often.
Be adamant in spreading the love and praise to all consumers, but don’t hesitate to prioritize your brand’s loyalists. To do this, identify your best customers and brainstorm worthwhile initiatives, perks, or other benefits to show them that your brand will continue to take care of them.
Often, a “proble-tunity” leads to the greatest loyalty. Brands that solve problems such as claims, rescue services, and technical assistance find that following up immediately after an incident can lead to greater opportunities. Taking care of your customers when they need you most is the shortest path to a lifetime of value.
The days of building a product and then going mute are over. If you don’t seize the opportunity of creating a home for your brand’s tribe of devoted fans, they will create their own—or they will find a different brand that is forging ahead with its community efforts. Don’t be left in competitors’ dust: Put your stake in the ground, and build the best community that drives your brand and motivates your consumers.
Gayle Teskey is the CEO and founder of Membership Corporation of America, a consultative and marketing services organization with a specialization in enthusiast membership organizations and affinity marketing.
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